Regional anesthesia is used to block the sensation in a specific part of a patient's body during and after surgery. It offers numerous advantages over conventional general anesthesia, including faster recovery time, fewer side effects, and a dramatic reduction in post-surgical pain.
In regional anesthesia, the local anesthetic is injected through a needle close to a nerve so as to block it. However, locating the nerve has often proved difficult in patients. Ultrasound is therefore used to improve the accuracy of the injection and therefore the safety of the procedure. However, a disadvantage of using an ultrasound probe is that both hands of the clinician are required to perform the block; one hand is needed to hold the regional anesthetic needle that delivers the local anesthetic, whilst the other is required to hold the ultrasound probe.
As a result, the clinician often requires assistance when carrying out the procedure. In this regard, most clinicians require an assistant to be present in order to hold the syringe connected to the needle and to inject the local anesthetic by pressing the syringe plunger at the request of the clinician. However, using an assistant has a number of disadvantages. For example, the clinician must rely on the assistant to accurately follow orders relating to the timing and speed of the injection, and also to keep an appropriate pressure exerted upon the syringe plunger.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a device that allows the clinician to administer the local anesthetic him or herself without the need for any assistance. This need is addressed by the present invention, which solves one or more of the above-mentioned problems.